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Title

Page 1

File Name

_0488_L.pdf

Transcript

17 September 1937
Sailor Causes
Varrantcd Exasperation
Source Of
A Few Naval Customs
Navy Yard, Mare Island- Vallejo, California
* -.. s. s. " O" S"'- O" *
Be Proud
Of Your Uniform
Many are the yarns spun over a cup
of black navy ' jamoke'. Some have the
thread of truth strung through them,
others are pure fabrications, while
a few have the ring of sincere reality.
You can take the following tale with
your tongue in your cheek if you so
desire, yet the old salt who told me
this vowed that every last bit of it
actually took place as narrated,
It WllS during the hectic war days
of 1918 when the furore of recruiting
a fighting navy to man the new des­troycrs
was at its height. The large
bulk of the crews were naturally quite
green and inexperienced as compared
to the small percentage of old hands
on each crew. Yet into tbis group of
green hands on one destroyer step­ped
a recruit far greener and vastly
more muscle- bound behind the ears
than any of the rest, The tough bos'n
mate tried all his powers at instruc­tion,
coaxed, wheedled, then finally
stormcrl and cursed at the luckless in­dividual.
How a man could remain
outside the pall of doing something
right sometime was a mystery, but as
time went on the young sailor im­proved
but little.
One day the man in question was
told to scrub paintwork with salt
water. After getting some adVice in­terspersed
with a few choice exple­tives
he proceeded to his job. He was
back again in a minute.
" How will I get the salt water," he
in ! 10CC: ltly asked?
" Tic a bucket to your ann and ca t
it ovcr the side," roared the bos'n
matc in exasperation, " you can only
( Continued on Pace 2.)
The new U. S. Constitution was sil{ ned
on 17 September, 1787. On 21 Sept­ember,
1784, the first U. S. daily ncws­paper
was published.
The custom of piping a boat along­side
originated in the practice of pip­ing
as a form of cheering or welcome
to the visiting personage in the barge
or gig that was approaching.
The use of sideboys originated in
the practice of holding conferences
on the flagship, and of inviting offi­cers
to dinner, while at sea, for in the
days of sail the duration of periods at
sea was much longer than it is now.
In order to go aboard a ship at sea it
was often necessary to hoist the visit­ing
officer aboard in the boatswain's
chair, the pipe being used for " hoist
away" and " avast heaving." As ag- e
and seniority generally brought with
it an increase in pl'oportions and
weight, the more senior an officer was
the more sideboys needed to hoist him
aboard.
Hence, an admiral needed eight side­boys
while a young lieutenant could be
hoisted aboard very satisfactorily
with two sideboys.
The custom of tending the side with
the concomitant piping of the side by
the boatswain's mate is one of long
standing. The boatswain's pipe itself
is one of the oldest and most distinc­tive
pieces of personal nautical equip­ment.
A pipe or flute was used in the Ro­man
and Grecian galleys of antiquity
to keep stroke. In the Crusade of 1248
the pipe was used as the signal to at­tack.
.....
The musician has his musical instru­ment.
The lawyer has his books. The
farmer has his plough. All men of
professions and trades are closely as-ociated
with an object which indel­libly
connects them with the work
they do. Sometimes it is a tool with
hich they work. Sometimes it is the
product they are producing. Some­times
it is the garb they are wearing.
The symbol which clearly shows the
profession of being a man- of- warsman
belongs in the latter class. It is the
unifol'm of the United States Navy.
How often before we became an in­tegral
part of the Navy did we look
. t the Naval Uniform as a thing typi­fying
the lifc of the sea? When we
did enter were we not a little proud
to put it on the first time, and did we
not feel then and there that we were
ruly men- of- warsmen? Now that we
hav~ spent some time in the service,
the country's first line of defense,
and now that we have worn that uni­form
most of the wakening moments
ee, it begins to mean even more
us than just a symbol. Weare able
distinguisli readily between a slop-
• untidy misfit and a uniform that
the acme of smartness.
smart uniform reflects the smart­of
the ship. An untidy, wornout
iform not only is a bad representa­p
for the ship, and not only holds
man back in his advancement be-use
he sometimes is judged by his
~ riors in a share by his appearance,
t it makes that man conscious that
i not at his best. This latter feel­often
times begins to show also
( Continued on Pqe ••)